Big George approves Tyson getting into HOF

HOUSTON - Former heavyweight champion George Foreman told FOX 26 Sports Mike Tyson belongs in the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum.

Foreman said the fact that Tyson had more than his fair share of issues outside the ring has nothing to do with his accomplishments in the sport.

"Oh he belongs," Foreman said. "Tyson had more of an effect on boxing internationally than any other boxer except Muhammed Ali and Joe Louis.

"No one will remember the things that Tyson did, except for the biting incident. All anyone will remember is his punch. "That name Tyson might be infamous, but that's a name."

There are people in Germany who name their dogs Tyson," Foreman said. "Even in France they have a saying in their language that he treated me like Tyson."

Foreman said Tyson, the first heavyweight boxer to own the WBA, WBC AND IBF titles at the same time, brought a unique style to boxing.

"Tyson was one of the best punchers in the game," Foreman said. "No one has seen anyone as electryfing as him anywhere in the world."

Foreman said he never had the opportunity to get into the ring with Tyson and the former champion said that's a good thing.

"More than happy," Foreman said. "My life is far better because I didn't fight Tyson."
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/sports/local/101207-foreman-applauds-selection-of-tyson-for-boxing-hall-of-fame

Another case of Big George showing modesty with age. Because we all know old Foreman was calling Tyson out, and Tyson wanted no part of it. Because Cus told him, Foreman, even old Foreman, bounce him out ring like he did Frazier

cus was long dead when the tyson-foreman fight was talked about.

dmar5143 wrote:cus was long dead when the tyson-foreman fight was talked about.

Cus and Tyson would watch films of old fights. People in the Tyson camp at the time confirmed they would watch Frazier-Foreman fight lots, and Cus told Tyson nobody that went after Foreman would survive, and that he was all wrong for Foreman.

Of course at the time, Cus never imagined Foreman being a future opponent for Tyson.

GrantZilla wrote:

dmar5143 wrote:cus was long dead when the tyson-foreman fight was talked about.

Cus and Tyson would watch films of old fights. People in the Tyson camp at the time confirmed they would watch Frazier-Foreman fight lots, and Cus told Tyson nobody that went after Foreman would survive, and that he was all wrong for Foreman.

Of course at the time, Cus never imagined Foreman being a future opponent for Tyson.

I never heard about the Foreman thing, but Cus and Tyson reportedly watched alot of older fights and fighters. When you listen to Tyson talk about the sport, he does know alot about its history.

George has a tendency to go overboard.

I really like George Foreman. Pound for pound, I think he's one of the greatest fighters of all time (My opinion.). Not everyone agrees with that assessment. The late comedian Richard Pryor once said of George Foreman, “George has a unique style. None. George comes in the ring and asks, “Which one's the referee? Because I'm gonna kill that other motherfucker." Fine, but if I could, I'd ask Richard, "Why type of style does a tornado have?" George is the only fighter I can think of that can beat Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Mike Tyson on the same night.

That said, Foreman’s a bit of an extremist. Either he's especially modest or a little too proud. George knows for a fact that Tyson was terrified of him and probably doesn't have an ounce of respect for Mike "running away" from a "Foreman fight” in very obvious fashion. To show you the other side of George, he once stated to Roy Firestone that he could beat Holyfield and Tyson on the same night. (I don't know how he'd manage that, given that he couldn't beat Holyfield doing a solo act.)

Does Mike Tyson belong in the HOF? I actually don't think so but neither the Hall nor the Boxing Press has the guts to keep him out. His star power “was” much too large. However, in his era, I'd rank Mike behind, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe. Ken Norton is the only other HOF fighter that I can even think of ranking that low in his respective era.

Was boxing, and for that matter the world, a more interesting place because of Mike Tyson? Depends what your poison is. He made the world a very annoying place for "yours truly." I’ve never heard any celebrity publicly make some of the ignorant and sickening statements that Mike did. The only thing that out did his foul mouth were his shameful, cowardly and criminal actions in and out of the ring.

I wish I could say something positive about Tyson, as I’m sure a lot of you will. I’ll respect your opinions (Especially since my father is Mike’s number one fan. LOL. Boy, we get into over that.) That said, I’d have nothing kind to say about Tyson upon his death. I personally think he belongs in the “Hall of Thugs” and should be buried in the gutter where he belongs. In my era, he's the closest thing to a worthless existence I've ever seen. My take. (Note: Those are my final words concerning “Mike Tyson.”)

mike certainly wasnt a role model for anyone except perhaps low life thugs..george foreman did the greatest marketing job perhaps in boxing history.he went from villian to nice guy and did his folksy act and fought often against third rate stiffs.there was talk and briefly of a possible foreman -tyson fight..to claim tyson was afraid of foreman truly is utter nonsence..tyson when interviewd a few times felt like sugar ray leaonard did when they asked him about a mathup with chavez..ray said chavez is a joke.thoses are his exact words and he said he ment chavez is just too small to considere..ray certainly wasnt afraid of chavez.
tyson reacted both times in interviews and you could see the anger in his face when he said ill kill him..i agree tyson would of destroyed foreman who at that time was way out of his league with mike...again we dismiss mikes destroying of decent competion while we praise foreman for koing and at times struggling with stiffs so bad you could find a livlier oponent in the morgue...tyson just finished crushing frank bruno and carl williams to fighters who at that time were far more capable then foreman.then the loss to douglas..after that mike fought razor ruddick who was highly rated and a good puncher and mike killed him in there 2 fights and ended ruddocks promosing career right there.ruddock was far more capable then george..
forman was slower then molasses in january and a big target.his body or head was open.if he protected the head then tyson who strill punched to the body back then would of crushed that big belly and visa versa..then mike went to jail...before that foreman was given a gift descion over alex stewart tyson koed him in one round.when mike was in jail foreman got a gift against shultz who easily beat george.tyson would of dumpted him inside2..another gift was saveresse.george was clearly outboxed by tommy-glass jaw-morrison.mikes hand speed punching power etc etc were light years ahead of morrison..in one fight a fighter who george did not come close to giving a beating stayed on his stool after 7 rounds starting a investigation to WHY..foreman also struggled in vein with ineptness in a fight with big foot martin going the distence.
the constant reference to mike being the forth or so best heavy in his era as an example to dismiss mike as hall not worthy...then walcott also was the forth best in his era of charles marciano and louis..liston the third best of his era behing ali and frazier..does that mean they dont belong in the hall or were stiffs.
now theres a tendency to knock the guys mike beat..frank bruno twice brutaly.ruddick twice mike spinks ..carl williams terell biggs trevor burbick by destruction pinklon thomas etc etc..ALL pretty dam good fighters.most of them better then kenny norton who outside of ali twice it should of been and a hairline win over jimmy young .outside of that who did norton actualy beat..ken doint belong..mike does..we can hate his guts but he belongs in the hall.
we vastly underate mike now and dismiss his wins over some guys who actualy would have a dam good chance of koing wlad but praise and overate george who struggled with second tier figfhters and lost to them and was given a gift descion at least 3 times..he beats stiffs with his slow motion punches and not top in there prime competion like mike did before the soo called proposed fight between the two....yes mike was afraid of george..he was afraid that he might actualy kill him...

Dmar, that's another take and I'm sure a great deal of people will agree with you. You know my take. Just a small note on Norton. He also fought Larry Holmes down to the wire. That decision could've gone either way.

I promised not to mention Tyson again, but your statement that Mike was afraid he would kill George has to be addressed. Was Mike scared he would kill those old ladies he used to mug in elevators and knock their teeth out? I think we can both agree that George was more capable than them. Also, dmar, does Mike strike you as a guy that's concerned about the welfare of his fellow men?

Hey Hey Hey why you got to call Tommy Morrison Glass Jawed? The guy only lost 3 fights and two of those guys were pretty damn good punchers.

Soonermark890 wrote:Hey Hey Hey why you got to call Tommy Morrison Glass Jawed? The guy only lost 3 fights and two of those guys were pretty damn good punchers.

LOL: Who said Tommy had a glass jaw? No nephew of "The Duke's" can possibly be scared to take a punch. lol

sooner what was the name of the stiff that decked tommy 3 times in the first round..

dmar5143 wrote:sooner what was the name of the stiff that decked tommy 3 times in the first round..

That would be Michael Benn, but he was no stiff.

Frank wrote:

dmar5143 wrote:sooner what was the name of the stiff that decked tommy 3 times in the first round..

That would be Michael Benn, but he was no stiff.

...thats right.bennt..a world beater in his 11th fight..ross purity decked tommy twice and got a phoney draw and ruddick floored him also.tommy scored a flash knowdown and the ref stoped the fight for noo reason..yes lewis and mercer destroyed him also..he also hit the deck in another fight..not a great chin..nor a good one either...lets say fair instead of glass jaw...i liked tommy a lot.i felt his interviews were first rate..how he always said we not i and how he graciously handle the interview after the mercer loss....he was a product of a tv buildup that fell short of what they painted..its too bad because tommy was a decent guy.

dmar5143 wrote:

Frank wrote:

dmar5143 wrote:sooner what was the name of the stiff that decked tommy 3 times in the first round..

That would be Michael Benn, but he was no stiff.

...thats right.bennt..a world beater in his 11th fight..ross purity decked tommy twice and got a phoney draw and ruddick floored him also.tommy scored a flash knowdown and the ref stoped the fight for noo reason..yes lewis and mercer destroyed him also..he also hit the deck in another fight..not a great chin..nor a good one either...lets say fair instead of glass jaw...i liked tommy a lot.i felt his interviews were first rate..how he always said we not i and how he graciously handle the interview after the mercer loss....he was a product of a tv buildup that fell short of what they painted..its too bad because tommy was a decent guy.

Give Benn a break dmar. That was his 15 minutes. LOL

frank lol your right.that was bentts 15 minutes of fame.he was a stiff.his next fight he got destroyed by herbie hyde and retired with 11-2 koed twice...guys who were 5-12 5-14 14-26 and 14-10 went the distence with him.he had 6 ko wins in 13 fights and tommy was one of them..soo a stiff DID ko tommy.

You guys make me sad.

Soonermark890 wrote:You guys make me sad.

Sooner, I did my best to back your guy. If Morrison could take a big punch, he would've been one of the great ones.

I believe Tyson belongs in the Hall...he accomplished quite a bit early in his career.
As far as Foreman is concerned, Tyson wanted no part of him. When Don King tried to set up a fight with him, Tyson remarked, "He's a fucking animal. If you want him so bad, you fight him."

Alright, I give. Tyson probably does deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, because if there's one thing Tyson certainly was (and still is) it's famous. Dude is a household name, there's no getting around that.

I still don't think he's a "great" fighter, but the youngest heavyweight champion and a bonafide superstar of the sport, that's hard to argue with.

Ingemar Johansson made it into the IBHOF,and Tyson was a better fighter than Ingo.Frankly,I think too many people get into the Hall who don't deserve it.